-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- It was Pakistan 's birthday on August 14 , and no one celebrated .

The monsoon floods that engulfed most of the country and affected 20 million people have added yet another burden of misery onto the shoulders of the average Pakistani . More than 4 million people are homeless . Livestock , crops and livelihoods were destroyed .

How far this once-proud nation has fallen .

In Urdu , Pakistan means the `` land of the pure . '' It reflects the noble intentions of its creators to build a nation that enshrined the best of Islamic principles . Unfortunately , that nobility has given way to chaos because of bad luck , incompetent political leaders , corruption and religious extremism .

Pakistan may be a world away from the United States , but instability feeds the extremism that fuels terrorism , so we ignore this crisis at our peril . To find the path forward , we must look back to the past .

During the 1970s , my father packed up our family of five and moved us to Pakistan . He believed Pakistan had higher standards of early schooling and stronger social values than his adopted home of England . Soon after , Russian tanks rumbled into Afghanistan and then came wave after wave of Afghan refugees .

By the mid '80s , the full impact of the war waging next door came home to Pakistan . The U.S. priority was to evict the Russians from Afghanistan at any cost .

Pakistan followed along . As a result , educating the masses , dealing with a sea of refugees , nurturing democracy , developing infrastructure and eradicating Afghan heroin all took second place .

The Pakistan my father brought us home to experience was disappearing before our eyes . This was a defining moment . Instead of focusing on its own problems , it chose instead to fight the war for the West , and 30 years later , Pakistan is still paying for this decision .

After Russia withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 , the Americans walked away . But Pakistan could n't .

Growing unrest and infighting in Afghanistan gave the Taliban an opportunity to step in . The only thing that mattered to the Taliban was how quickly and crudely the practitioners could inflict their horrifying version of Islam on the Afghan people . Then , all hell broke loose on September 11 , 2001 .

Since 9/11 , Pakistan has supported America 's intervention in Afghanistan , the right decision but one fraught with controversy . It has torn Pakistan into factions and triggered suicide bombings . Even before the monsoon hit , the country was an economic , political and social disaster .

Can Pakistan be saved ?

I believe it can , but the fortunes of this ailing nation can only be changed with America 's help . America may not have intended to hurt Pakistan , but it 's clear that Pakistan 's support for U.S. policy contributed to its decline .

The good news is that today there is real opportunity for change . Pakistan needs America 's help . America needs a stable Pakistan .

The United States was the first nation to offer aid after the flooding disaster , pledging $ 150 million . This is a positive first step in a much-needed long-term reconstruction plan for Pakistan . But as important as the money is , ensuring that it 's spent on the right things is even more critical . The Pakistan government needs to focus on three things to stop the country 's downward spiral : education , infrastructure and security .

Educating Pakistan is not a matter of choice , but of utmost necessity .

The literacy rate for men is 61 percent , and for women it 's 32 percent . Ignorance breeds poverty and extremism . Education can help break that cycle . Funding must be in place to teach every child to read and write .

Educating the country 's Muslim leaders is just as important . These mullahs interpret the Quran for the people , and often they do so in an uninformed , uneducated way that distorts the true teachings of Islam . A national program to certify these religious leaders is needed to address this most pressing challenge .

As for infrastructure , what little was there has been washed away .

The roads are a mess , electricity goes out most days and not enough food is produced . The failure of the government to deliver on the basics has demoralized the population and dampened the spirits of its entrepreneurs .

Pakistan has to fix the electrical grid and improve its agricultural sector . The United States could help by opening its doors to Pakistani exporters and embarking on programs to share knowledge and help Pakistani industrialists grow their companies .

In terms of security , with Afghanistan at war on one side and the barely held truce with India on the other , Pakistan needs to secure its borders , ignore the problems of its neighbors and focus internally .

This means militarizing its border on the Afghan side and closing it to all but legitimate trade traffic . The core source of strife with India is the 63-year-old dispute over Kashmir , where in the past two decades , more than 80,000 Kashmiris have been killed . If America were to assist both countries in solving this issue , it would go a long way to repairing the Pakistan-India relationship .

Education , infrastructure and security : Pakistan must focus on these areas with laser-like intensity and exhibit courage and vision to raise its people out of despair . I believe in Pakistan , as my father did . And with America 's support and investment , someday Pakistan may even be able to dream again of achieving its noble destiny as the `` land of the pure . ''

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Sharjeel Kashmir .

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Sharjeel Kashmir : Even before floods , Pakistan was an economic , political , social mess

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Aid for U.S. in Afghanistan tore Pakistan into factions , sparked suicide attacks , he writes

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Kashmir : Pakistan needs America 's help ; America needs a stable Pakistan

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Pakistan must focus on education , infrastructure and security , he writes